Two dead as typhoon Talas lashes out in Japan

Typhoon Talas lashed central Japan on Saturday with torrential rain and fierce winds, killing two and leaving tens of thousands of households without power, the Kyodo news agency reported.

Japan is currently in its typhoon season, and routinely faces around 20 such storms a year, along with heavy rains that cause flash floods or landslides.

Shizuoka city — situated southwest of the capital Tokyo, was hit especially hard — seeing a record 417 mm of precipitation since the rain started on Thursday, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.

Winds at the centre of typhoon Talas were blowing at about 65km/h, with peak gusts of about 90km/h, it added.

A man in his 40s was killed in a landslide, and a 29-year-old man was found dead after his car plunged into a reservoir, Kyodo reported.

Power was also cut to about 120,000 households, supplier Chubu Electric Power Grid Co said, adding that a landslide had knocked over two electricity pylons.

"We are expecting it may take some time to restore power due to landslides, among other factors," the company said on its Twitter account.

Central JR restarted some of its bullet train services, which had been suspended from Friday evening because of the rain.

Although the JMA downgraded the typhoon to a extra-tropical cyclone on Saturday morning, it forecast further torrential rain in Shizuoka and urged caution for landslides and flooding.

Yokohama city, some 30 km south of Tokyo, also issued an evacuation advisory at about noon on Saturday to about 3,000 residents.

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